The journey of the success of the Syrian Ahmed Oso.. From resorting to designing the fashion of the Dutch royal family

None of the owners of the workshops in the Syrian city of Aleppo, in which Ahmed Osso worked in his youth, thought that this skinny boy from a small village in the north of Aleppo, who loved to sew and spent many hours learning it, would move within a few years to a far western country. After a difficult struggle, he will start his own fashion company and today designs for celebrities in the Netherlands and for the Dutch royal family.

Quietly and away from the media, Oso worked with a small team to establish the name "OSO Couture", as one of the unique companies in the design of women's clothing, a company that attracted important names from the worlds of art and politics in the Netherlands in recent years, even two politicians in Parliament The Dutchman chose to wear his dresses for the last Prince's Day celebration in 2019, and before "Covid-19" stopped public celebrations in the Netherlands.

Owusu had been away for years from the media, fearing that too much media attention could distract him and derail his own business.

However, this media began to pay attention to him, as his designs, which are worn by personalities from the worlds of art and politics in the Netherlands, receive the greatest media attention when they appear in public events.

Oso does not like much to talk about the famous public figures he designs for, including the Dutch royal family, as there are some who prefer to keep this matter private, which the Syrian designer respects.

arduous struggle journey

The journey of the Syrian fashion designer was not easy at all. He who arrived 10 years before the Syrian revolution, remained for years without residency, and when he established his own workshop, his daily work rate was 16 hours.

Ahmed Oso tells Al Jazeera Net the memories of his early years of work from the site of his current company near the Dutch city of Leiden. He says, "The Dutch neighbors who go out for a walk at night knock on the windows of the workshop when they see me behind the sewing machine, and they joke with me that I have to close the shop and rest a little."

Oso traveled through 3 Dutch fashion design academies, paid for himself at the time, and benefited from the philosophy of each of the academies he studied at.

Oso recalls the years of study in the Netherlands, saying, "I learned freedom of thought at the famous Redferd Academy in Amsterdam, but I did not have time to complete the whole period of study, as I had to work to live, in addition to that I was good at design and sewing before I arrived in Holland, I didn't need an academy to teach me this aspect of the profession."

Costume designed by Syrian Ahmed Oso (Al Jazeera)

Passion and nostalgia for the first teacher mother

Osso's ambition and passion for design and tailoring will lead him to open his first workshop, which is located close to his company's site today.

Oso describes his first independent step into working in the Netherlands "It was a small workshop, with only one sewing machine, and I started getting some clients and building a reputation as a fashion designer with a special style and way of working."

Even as his workshop grew into a company, Oso was the first to come to work, and the last to go home.

"Co-workers were going about their own lives and I was the only one left, and that's something I loved very much, as design is my biggest passion in life," Oso continued.

Oso remembers with great love his mother, the first teacher in his life, “My mother used to sew clothes and my sisters helped her, and I watched their work with great admiration, and how women would come home with pieces of cloth and come out satisfied after their clothes were completed”, but the person who had the important role in choosing a profession Sewing was his father.

"Every summer, my father used to send us to different workshops and professions so that we would know which business was close to our interest so that we could choose them in the future," recalls the Syrian fashion designer.

And when I reminded him that this is exactly what Dutch preparatory schools do with their students.

He laughed sarcastically that his father had done it instinctively and without any experience, as Dutch schools do.

Osu's eyes sparkle when he remembers his first visit to the first sewing workshop in the city of Aleppo. "I was very fascinated by the place. Fabrics arrive on one side, and beautiful clothes come out of them on the other."

Aleppo fingerprint

Osu longs for Aleppo, the unique city, according to him, which was the workshop of the whole region with its many factories.

“There was such an amazing energy in the city, that in almost every street there was someone with a special profession or a workshop that made beautiful and unique things.”

Aleppo and Middle Eastern influences are strongly present in Osu's designs, colors and fabrics.

He also liked to remember his mother in the last collection that he launched last year, “I loved to greet my mother in my latest collection, the woman who did not know how to read and write, and who did not know modern ways of designing clothes, but she was good in her ways of adjusting the sizes of customers, which is The method I use sometimes in my work today."

Designs that defy time

The woman who designs Osso is a queen crowned with femininity, and this is reflected in the fabrics, some of which Osso designs himself, in cooperation with reputable factories in Italy and France.

Osu uses silk in its many variations (Al-Jazeera)

Osso's fashion seems to go back to an earlier time, when the focus was on the beauty and perfection of the outfit, and before giant clothing companies entered the market and flooded it with cheap clothes, as one piece of the Syrian designer's collection could be passed on from one generation to another.

Oso describes the reactions of some women when they wear his dresses for the first time, and how some of them shed tears of emotion, while some women return with dresses from the company and after years of buying them for some modifications, as these dresses were associated with many of them with happy occasions such as marriage.

The fabric occupies a great importance in the fashion of the Syrian designer, as it forms the basis that underpins and inspires the design, and it can add a lot to the beauty of the final product.

Osso uses silk in its many variations, from very soft silk to special silk with greater thickness, and special embroideries are prepared in the designer's dresses to add a special spirit to the beauty of the designs.

Regarding the femininity in Osso's designs, even those intended for working women to wear in their daily work, he says, "It is very important to add a feminine touch to the women's suits that I design, this touch can be through the fabric or adding some small detail. This is a very important thing for me."